NCAA Basketball, the Tar Heel, and Citizen Media

The NCAA basketball game tonight in Detroit between the Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Michigan State Spartans brings us a good illustration of the relative strengths of print and online news.

But this also from the paper: “We ask that our readers be on the lookout for this, as you have in the past, and call our office at 962-1163 or e-mail dth@unc.edu if you believe you are witnessing the theft of the DTH.”

Online value = Interactivity. I’ll be curious to see whether Twitter is lit up more with reports of newspaper theft or reports on which newsboxes are getting refilled. Also, watch for amateur photo and video from Franklin Street tonight to beat anything done by professional media.